Backup and
Restore

Cisco
Disaster Recovery System (Cisco DRS), which you can access from Cisco
Unified Contact Center
Express
Administration, provides complete data backup-and-restore capabilities for all
servers in a Cisco
Unified Contact Center
Express(Unified CCX)
cluster.
Cisco DRS allows you to perform regularly scheduled automatic or user-invoked
data backups and to restore data in the case of a system failure.

To access Cisco DRS, choose
Disaster
Recovery System from the navigation drop-down list box in the
upper-right corner of the
Cisco
Unified CCX Administration window. Log in to the Disaster Recovery
System using platform administrator credentials.

Cisco
DRS will back up and restore the following components:

Cluster
configurations and applications profile in the data repository

In the
case of high availability (HA), Cisco DRS performs a cluster-level backup,
which means that it collects backups for all servers in a
Unified CCX
cluster to
a central location and archives the backup data to a remote SFTP server.

DRS will back up
and restore its own settings, that is, backup device settings (saved in file
drfDevice.xml) and schedule settings ( saved in file
drfSchedule.xml) as part of the platform component.
Once a server is restored with these files, you do not need to reconfigure DRS
backup device and schedule settings.

Note

Cisco DRS uses
SSL-based communication between the Master Agent and the Local Agent for
authentication and encryption of data between the
Unified CCX
publisher
and subscriber nodes. Cisco DRS makes use of the IPSec certificates for its
Public/Private Key encryption. Be aware that if you delete the IPSec truststore
(hostname.pem) file from the Certificate Management
pages, then Cisco DRS will not work as expected. If you delete the IPSec-trust
file manually, then you must ensure that you upload the IPSec certificate to
the IPSec-trust. For more details, see the certificate management help pages in
the
Cisco
Unified Communications Manager Security Guide available here:

Important
Considerations

Following are the
important considerations when you perform backup and restore procedures:

Before you run
a backup or a restore, make sure that both nodes in a cluster are running the
same version of
Unified CCX
. If
different nodes are running different versions of
Unified CCX, you will
have a certificate mismatch and your backup or restore will fail.

Before you
restore
Unified CCX, make sure
that the hostname, IP address, DNS configuration, version, and deployment type
matches the hostname, IP address, DNS configuration, version, and deployment
type of the backup file that you want to restore.

Before you
restore
Unified CCX, ensure
that the
Unified CCX version
that is installed on the server matches the version of the backup file that you
want to restore. Cisco DRS supports restore only for matching versions of
Unified CCX. For
example, Cisco DRS does not allow you to restore from Version 8.5(1).1000-1 to
Version 9.0(1).1000-1, or from Version 8.5(2).1000-1 to Version 9.0(1).1000-2.

Schedule
backups during off-peak hours to avoid call-processing interruptions and impact
to service.

After you use the recovery disk to bring a server with a
corrupted file system into a bootable and semi- functional state, Cisco
recommends that you rebuild the server.

Note

If you do not rebuild the server, you may notice missing
directories, lost permissions, or corrupted soft links.

SFTP
Requirements

To back
up data to a remote device on the network, you must have an SFTP server that is
configured and accessible from the
Unified CCX
node to run
the backup. Cisco allows you to use any SFTP server products that have been
certified with Cisco through the Interoperability Verification Testing (IVT)
process. Cisco Developer Network (CDN) partners, such as GlobalSCAPE, certify
their products with a specified version of
Unified CCX. For
information about which vendors have certified their products with your version
of
Unified CCX, see the
following URL:

Cisco
does not support use of the SFTP product freeFTPD, because it has a 1-GB
file-size limit.

Note

For issues
with third-party products that have not been certified through the IVT process,
contact the third-party vendor for support.

While a
backup or restore is running, you cannot perform any Operating System (OS)
Administration tasks because Cisco DRS blocks all OS Administration requests.
However, you can use CLI commands to back up or restore the system.

Master and Local
Agents

The
system automatically starts the Master Agent service on each node of the
cluster, but it is functional only on the first node. Both servers in a
Unified
CCX
cluster
must have Local Agent running to perform the backup and restore functions.

Note

By default, a
Local Agent automatically gets activated on each node of the cluster.

Master Agent Duties

The Master Agent (MA) performs the following duties:

Stores system-wide component registration information.

Maintains a complete set of scheduled tasks in an XML file. The MA updates this file when it receives updates of schedules from the user interface. The MA sends executable tasks to the applicable Local Agents, as scheduled. Local Agents execute immediate-backup tasks without delay.

Lets you perform activities such as configuring backup devices, scheduling backups by adding new backup schedules, viewing or updating an existing schedule, displaying status of executed schedules, and performing system restoration.

Stores backup data on a remote network location.

Local Agent
Duties

In a
Unified
CCX
cluster, the Local Agent runs backup and restore scripts on each node in the
cluster.

Note

Cisco DRS uses
an SSL-based communication between the Master Agent and the Local Agent for
authentication and encryption of data between the
Unified
CCX
publisher and subscriber nodes. Cisco DRS uses IPSec certificates for its
Public/Private Key encryption. This certificate exchange is handled internally;
you do not need to make any configuration changes to accommodate this exchange.

Manage Backup Devices

Before using Cisco DRS, you must
configure the locations where the backup files will be stored. You can
configure up to ten backup devices. Perform the following steps to configure
backup devices.

Procedure

Step 1

On Disaster Recovery System page, choose
Backup > Backup Device.

Step 2

Click appropriate button to add a new device or to edit settings of an existing backup device.

Step 3

Enter the backup device name and choose the backup device type.

Note

You cannot delete a backup device that is configured as the
backup device in a backup schedule.

Manage Backup
Schedules

You can
create up to ten backup schedules. Each backup schedule has its own set of
properties, including a schedule for automatic backups, and a storage location.

Caution

Schedule
backups during off-peak hours to avoid call-processing interruptions and impact
to service.

Procedure

Step 1

On the
Disaster Recovery System page, choose
Backup > Scheduler.

Step 2

Click the
appropriate button to add a new schedule or to edit settings of an existing
backup schedule.

Step 3

Fill out the
form and enable the backup schedule.

Note

If you
plan to schedule a backup on a two-node deployment, ensure that both the
servers in the cluster are running the same version of
Unified CCX
and are communicating in the network. Servers that are not
communicating at the time of the scheduled backup will not be backed up.

Do not
schedule a backup to run while the
Update
Database Statistics task is running. By default, this task is set to run
daily at 2:00 a.m.

Perform Manual
Backup

Procedure

Step 1

On the
Disaster Recovery System page, choose
Backup > Manual
Backup.

Step 2

Select a
backup device and start the backup.

Step 3

Click
Estimate Size to get the approximate size of the
disk space that the backup file will consume on the SFTP server.

Check Backup Status

On the Disaster Recovery System page, choose Backup > Current Status to check the backup status.

Caution

Be aware that if the backup to the remote server is not completed within 20 hours, the backup session will time out. You will then need to begin a fresh backup.

Restore
Scenarios

You can
choose to restore any node in the cluster.

Note

Do not
attempt a restore when there is a version mismatch between the Unified CCX
nodes.

If no backup
is available, you may not be able to run the restore activity on any of the
nodes through Cisco DRS.

If restore
is performed without rebuild, both the nodes have to be restored.

One-Step
Restore option is not supported in Unified CCX

Caution

Be aware
that your backup
.tar files are encrypted by a randomly generated
password. Unified CCX uses the cluster security password to encrypt this
password and save it along with the backup
.tar files. If you change this security password
between the backup and restore, Cisco DRS will prompt you for the old security
password. Therefore, to use old backups, Cisco recommends that you remember the
old security password or perform a fresh backup immediately after you reset or
change the password.

Cisco DRS
supports only matching versions of Unified CCX for restore. For example, Cisco
DRS does not allow a restore from version 8.5(1).1000-1 to Version
9.0(1).1000-1, or from Version 8.5(1).1000-2 to Version 9.0(1).1000-1. (The
last parts of the version number change when you install a service release or
an engineering special.) The product versions need to match, end-to-end, for
Cisco DRS to run a successful Unified CCX database restore.

After you
restore a node, reboot the node, and then perform the Data Resync manually by
logging in to the web interface of
Cisco Unified CCX Administration.

Restore SA or HA
Setup (Without Rebuild)

Perform
this procedure if you are restoring an SA or HA setup of
Unified CCX
to the last
known good configuration, without reinstalling
Unified CCX
on any of
the nodes. Do not perform this procedure after a hard drive failure or other
hardware failure.

Note

Before you
restore a cluster, make sure that the second node in the cluster is functional
and is communicating with the first node. Run the CLI command
utils network
connectivity to know if second node is communicating with the first node.

You must carry
out a fresh installation for the second node if it is not functional or if it
is not communicating with the first node at the time of the restore.

Caution

You should not
perform the restore activity of a SA backup in a HA setup; otherwise the
cluster will break and the second node will be an orphan.

Restore SA Setup
(with Rebuild)

You can restore a
SA setup (with rebuild) in the following cases:

The hard drive
fails, and you have a valid backup that was taken before the hard drive
failure.

The server
hardware is to be replaced. Take a backup of
Unified CCX
when it is
running in the old server hardware that is to be replaced. Note the backup
device details before you shut down the
Unified CCX
setup.

If you are
performing any other type of hardware upgrades, such as replacing a network
card or adding memory, you do not need to perform the following procedure.

Procedure

Step 1

Perform a
fresh installation of the same version of
Unified CCX
(using the
same administrator credentials, network configuration, and security password
that you used earlier) on the node before you restore it.

Follow the
on-screen instructions in the wizard to complete the restore process.

Note

There is
no need to perform initial configuration in the
Unified VB Administration page for any restore with
rebuild scenarios.

Restore Only First
Node in HA Setup (with Rebuild)

In a
High Availability (HA) setup, if there is a hard-drive failure or any other
critical hardware or software failure which needs rebuild of the first node,
then perform the following procedure to recover the publisher node to the last
backed up state of the publisher.

Procedure

Step 1

Perform a
fresh installation of the same version of
Unified CCX
(using
the same administrator credentials, network configuration, and security
password that you used earlier) on the node before you restore it.

After the
restore process is successful, run the following CLI command from the second
node.

utils uccx
setuppubrestore

Step 4

Run the following CLI command on the target node; that is, if you
want to retrieve the publisher node’s data, then run this command on the
subscriber node, but if you want to retrieve the subscriber node’s data (which
is more up-to-date), then run this command on the publisher node.

utils uccx database forcedatasync

Step 5

Restart both
the nodes and run the following CLI command on the Publisher node to set up
replication:

utils uccx dbreplication
reset

Step 6

To set up
replication for the Cisco Finesse database:

Run the
following CLI command on the Subscriber node:

utils dbreplication
stop

Run the
following CLI command on the Publisher node:

utils dbreplication reset
all

Caution

If you have
performed some configuration or hardware changes while performing fresh
installation in Step 1 that might impact the License MAC, then rehost your
license again using the license rehosting mechanism before running the CLI
command
utils
uccx dbreplication reset.

Restore Second
Node in HA Setup (with Rebuild)

Caution

In case the
second node crashes and there is no backup available, you may not be able to
restore anything. However, to recover the second node, delete the second node
from the first node, add the second node details again, and then rebuild the
second node. The recording and monitoring data which was present in the server
cannot be recovered since there is no backup.

In a
high availability (HA) setup, if there is a hard-drive failure or any other
critical hardware or software failure which needs rebuild of the second node,
then perform the following procedure to recover the second node to the last
backed up state of the second node.

Procedure

Step 1

Perform a
fresh installation of the same version of
Unified CCX
(using the
same administrator credentials, network configuration, and security password
that you used earlier) on the node before you restore it.

Restore Both Nodes
in HA Setup (with Rebuild)

In a
High Availability (HA) setup, if a major hard drive failure occurs on both the
nodes in the cluster, or in the event of a hard drive migration or replacement,
you may need to rebuild both the nodes.

In case of a
hard drive failure if you have taken a valid backup before the failure, follow
this procedure to restore both the nodes, starting with the first node.

In case of
server hardware replacement, take a backup of
Unified CCX
when
running in the old server hardware that is to be replaced. Note the backup
device details before you bring down the
Unified CCX
setup.
Follow this procedure to bring up a new server.

To correct a
virtual machine with unaligned partitions, you need to perform a manual backup
first and follow the procedure by performing a fresh installation using the
latest OVF Template from
Unified Contact Center Express
Virtual Machine Templates to restore both the nodes, starting with the
first node.

Caution

Set up a new
cluster if you do not have a valid backup for the first node.

Procedure

Step 1

Rebuild the
first node by performing a fresh installation of the same version of Cisco
Unified Contact Center Express (using the same administrator credentials,
network configuration and security password being used before the failure).